Thursday, 18 April 2013

Captain Disaster by Del Shannon (Children's, 8 years +, 9/10)



In October 2011, Del published this book under the name of Kevin's Point of View. An awful lot of good things have happened to Del, which has led to a republishing of the book (in print & as an ebook), with a brand new cover and title! This review is a repost of the original. You can see that and the original cover here. Now on with the review!

 April 2013, Story Arts Media
236 pages, ebook & paperback
Review copy

Themes: mourning the loss of a parent,  dealing with emotions, insatiable curiosity, crazy stunts pulled by boys, lots of heart racing moments, a lot of humour, 

Book Summary from Del's website 
Kevin Tobin is an ordinary twelve-year old dealing with the aftermath of his father’s tragic death in a mountain biking accident near their home in Boulder, Colorado. To escape from his emotional turmoil, Kevin has developed his imagination into a dangerous foil and a powerful ally. While he antagonizes his sister through his superhero antics, his ability to escape inside a character’s head becomes critical to his survival after his life is once-again turned upside down a year after his father’s death.

A mysterious package arrives in the mail, Kevin and his best friend are hunted down by a ruthless villain set upon world domination, and after enlisting Kevin’s teenage sister and her pizza-delivery boyfriend in a battle for control over time itself, the secret of Kevin’s whole existence is revealed to him by a source we never expected.
Nayuleska's thoughts  
There's heaps of action, adventure and imagination wrapped up with a surprisingly emotional story line. Some parts were really funny and I was frequently either smiling or staring open mouthed at what happened. 

The thoughts of one character although well written didn't fit with the book's target readership. However, there were points where it did make sense making it a minor issue, so I give this 9/10.  17th April 2013 Nayu notes: This may have been fixed in the new version of the book - I haven't been in a position to re-read it.

Be sure to check out Del's shiny new website with lots of info on the book and himself.

Suggested read
Another funny and surprisingly emotional read is The Donut Diaries of Dermot Mulligan by Anthony McGowan.

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